California Sun

My dad and Mary Lou came for a quick visit (one day short of a week feels quick nowadays with our busy schedule!) and seemed to have brought the California sun and warmth with them. Actually, now that they're gone, it's back down to the 50s, but while they were here, it was in the upper 80s with lots of sunshine! We did have some thunderstorms too, of course. You can't have that warm of weather around here this time of year without thunderstorms to go with it.

Since Austin is in kindergarten full-day and the kids didn't have any days off, besides the weekend, it felt different with them not around during the day. We needed those calmer moments, though, to get us through the busy evenings and weekend!

Besides finishing up their dance classes with some last practices and recitals, the girls both have parts in a play called Honk, through the community that they had a couple of practices for. In addition, Victoria was working on a wax museum project with a friend, Karissa was filling out the rest of her TAG forms, along with their regular school assignments, and piano. Saturday was just about the busiest day ever for us! Grandpa and Grandma Anderson were well entertained! Austin went to a free tennis class in the morning, then off to his ice hockey. While the grandparents were there, I took Karissa to her dance practice for her recital coming up this Saturday (Grandpa and Grandma got to see her dance at her class Monday night). Then, Grandpa and Grandma got to see Victoria dance in her first recital of the day. They took Karissa with them. They babysat that night so Jason and I could go on a date to the second recital that evening. Victoria danced well and we all enjoyed the show. It was nice spending Mother's day with them and a break from all activities on Sunday.

We had to squeeze in some fun while they were here too. A couple parks, the Botanical Gardens, and Frankenmuth (a German settled town 1 1/2 hours from here) were about all we could do. We had to move quickly to fit Frankenmuth in with school drop-off and pick-up, but it was worth the trip!

Erik jumped right in with Grandpa.

The girls still love to rub Grandpa's hurt shoulder.

Brown-eyed buddies.

I've been watching Logan again lately, when he doesn't have preschool. He went with us to the Botanical Gardens.

Victoria mowed part of the lawn for the first time.

After the first recital. Victoria had already changed because she was boiling, but her hair and make-up are ready for the evening show!

Janelle and Victoria= cute spiders

My favorite tree is no longer there, but I still like this spot for pictures. My kids cooperated better than ever for our annual Mother's day picture!

We sang "Happy Birthday" to the upcoming birthday boys on Mothers day. 

Lewis and Clark at the wax museum. 

Sideways

I just checked out my blog, and of course, the spider video is backwards from the way I saw it. So, it's sideways for most of it instead of only part of it- what a mess!!!

Spiders and Santa

The news about Victoria's dress rehearsal this year. The good news: I got the videos from You Tube onto my blog, in record time! The bad news: you can hardly see faces in the spider dance. The only reason you can see bodies is because the black showed up. Even worse was the Christmas dance. The Santa costumes, for some reason, reflected the lights and all you see are the silhouettes of the dancers. It was fine looking at it on my phone, but not when it transferred onto the computer. Victoria starts on our right for both dances (second from the right for the spiders and fourth from the right for Santa) and then ends up on the left. Cute dances, sorry you can't see better!

(I found if you hold the phone straight up and down, it comes out sideways. So I turned it only a few measures into the song. My other copy of the dance was interrupted by a phone call! I don't think I'm using my phone to video next time!)

TAG School, Here We Come!

Yesterday after school, Karissa told me she learned about what irony means. We had a little discussion about examples of things that are ironic. I realized that I have the best example of irony.

Two weeks ago, I received a letter from the school stating that Karissa was 4th on the waiting list to get into the TAG (talented and gifted) program for third grade. Enclosed were her test results. I was impressed, and surprised, at how high they were. I've always known that she's a bright kid, but she's often in, what we like to call, "outer space". She needs some prodding to get her work done, but once she's focused, she does really well!. She's been in what the principal described, and what I can attest to, a "rigorous" second grade class, so I've been prodding her along all school year. Her teacher raves to me at how talented she is, but agrees that she needs a little nudge to get her going.

Supposedly, I was going to find out whether or not she would get officially accepted in June, after all the other parents turned in their acceptance letters for their children by a certain deadline. In the meantime, I did my homework to know if TAG is right for her. I talked with the TAG principal, one of the third grade TAG teachers, her current teacher, and many moms whose children are in TAG, or who got accepted for next year. I even talked with a mom whose child was accepted and they declined the opportunity, and they somewhat regret that decision. Of course the best way is through prayer, and I've done that too. I felt confident that it would be a good fit for Karissa. Yesterday, we got a call that a spot has already opened up, and she is in! Okay, I'll be honest, I cried when I found out. Not that it's that big a deal to me, it's just that this whole idea was so unexpected to me and I've been aware over these school years at how blessed I am to have my kids doing so well in school. Whether or not any of my kids get into TAG, they are all bright and talented in different areas. They all love to read, and Austin has learned to read this year amazingly well. When I was in elementary school, I felt dumb. I struggled in math, was not the best reader, in fact I didn't even like to read on my own. It wasn't until the middle of my Jr. High years that I felt like I could actually do somewhat well in school. That was because I learned that if I worked hard enough, I could do it, thanks to my parents for their example of that. I just hope that now that Karissa is in TAG, she will continue to work hard and not use the excuse of being "talented and gifted" for her to slack off.

The irony in all this? Our home school, Miller, has been the TAG school as long I I have known it. Starting this fall, the TAG students are all being sent to a different school, Galimore. Now that I finally have a student in TAG, it won't even be at our school! Luckily for us, Gallimore is the next closest school.

That Time of Year

It's that time of year when the dance studios have their photo sessions. As usual, I don't see the need to buy pictures of my girls, even though I would love to cover my house with pictures of them everywhere, I have to draw a line somewhere! I always use the time to make sure their costumes are ready for dress rehearsal and to take my own, far from professional, photos.

Victoria is still with Dancing Feet and has come a long way with her tapping. Her ballet has improved greatly too, mostly due to the Cecchetti ballet she is required to take (really strict, traditional ballet where they are tested at the end of the year). She wasn't sure she wanted to do the Cecchetti. It is in addition to their regular ballet class, but I think she can feel the difference in her dancing because of the discipline it requires.

All the years we have been going, this is the first year they let me watch and I snapped this pic of her with her classmates. She's standing in the middle.

The theme of the recital this year is holidays and seasons. They got Halloween and Christmas. 

Her classes are at the Summit, where they have a beautiful banquet room that we always snap our own pictures in afterwards. 

This year, Karissa went with a different dance company. Last year was gymnastics for her with some dance classes there, which they don't offer anymore. So, we thought we'd try dancing through the school district. It's less money, less intense, a little more relaxed, and still great and lots of fun! Personally, I don't think the dancers are as good as they are at Dancing Feet, but I haven't been to the recital yet. I base that on the fact that Karissa's class is 8-10 year-olds, and they aren't half as good as the 10-year-olds in Victoria's class. But, it's perfect for Karissa and she really does like it there, so I do too! I don't care how good it is, as long as they enjoy it. One thing she realized, though, when she put on her costume for pictures, was that it is still itchy! One of the main reasons she decided not to stay with Dancing Feet is because the costumes are too itchy! I told her that will never change no matter where she goes!

The middle school where her dance is at doesn't have a beautiful room with great lighting and it was too cold outside, but she still looks lovely!

Relaxing before the group shot is taken. 

Finally, we had a ward talent show last weekend. I thought I would try to get some dancers to show off their dancing talents, without trying to choreograph something for them this time. There are too many levels and it was hard to put them together. Instead, I emailed everyone to see which kids were interested. Besides my three (yes, Austin included), only one other person was. I had Austin lip-syncing to the Happy Song and doing his thing and the dancers come in at separate times to do parts of their recital dances. It turned out great! Unfortunately, Erik wanted to help video tape, but I couldn't let him since I had to hold the camera up really high to avoid the big speaker in the way. If you want to take a peek and risk getting dizzy by all the movement, here's the link: http://youtu.be/YhidL3FZY-8. Jason makes a surprise entrance at the end!

School Happenings

 We've had lots of fun, different-from-our-normal-routine, school activities over the past month or so. First, our school held it's first "Word Parade". The students chose a favorite word and had to display it in some way and dress or wear a prop to represent that word. At school, they held a parade so that everyone could see the different words. Since it was the first year this was done, parents weren't invited, but here are my kids before school that morning.

Austin chose the word globe.

Karissa chose the word flash.

Victoria chose the word entrepreneur.

 A few weeks ago, Karissa's class went on a field trip to Geer School. It's a one-room schoolhouse with all the old-fashioned school ways to go with it. They just basically dressed for the time (she even wore her old glasses that weren't so "modern-day") and held class in this schoolhouse that morning. They played games from that era and brought lunches as if they lived in the late 1800s. I was able to stop in for lunch and snap some photos.

Homemade bread, an apple, and a mint for her lunch. I did include a bottled water... 

Her teacher is Mr. Anderson.

 Victoria was able to complete the reading challenge of reading from certain selected chapter books in a specific time frame. She reluctantly, at first, put down Harry Potter, then found she enjoyed the other books. She was able to attend a special pizza party as a reward. She also entered the science fair again this year. After our flu in February, we decided she should do a project on killing germs. She got a little Glo Germ kit and tested whether hand sanitizer or soap and water are best for getting rid of germs. All my kids wash their hands better now!

My little scientists!

This Saturday we will be going to the district art fair again. I haven't seen her piece yet, but Victoria has one that will be displayed. I love all these opportunities for my kids to learn and grow!

Spring Break

Ready or not, spring break came, and went. It seems we were just off for mid-winter break not long ago! I guess we were somewhat ready since we planned and carried out our quick trip to Ohio. Here's a look at what we did after our beautiful Easter Conference Sunday.

Made it to the park after spring cleaning the first day. It was a good thing because it rained most of the week!

In between rains on Tuesday, we got over to the Botanical Gardens- one of our favorite places to visit!

Hiking around the gardens on the trails.

It still looked like winter last week, but a lot has changed since then!

Bowling with friends- Lewie and Austin.

Erik has had these nice shoes and refuses to wear them. I brought them bowling and told him they were his bowling shoes. He wore them and I think he liked them too, but I'm sure he won't wear them again. He's a "Crocs" boy. 

Because of the rain and extreme winds we couldn't go to the zoo, so we went to the science center in Ann Arbor. Erik is "driving" an ambulance here. 

Fireman Austin climbed up to the top. 

We supported the scouts at their pancake dinner fundraiser. Karissa bid on this very expensive ($50) chocolate cake, which our friend egged her on to bid on. I only allowed her to keep bidding when he said it would be his contribution because he didn't want anything anyhow. She was very excited! (Notice her glasses she got over the break too.)

We had some other play dates and Victoria did some babysitting so I could get a few things done. Other than that, it was pretty low-key. Erik is glad to have everyone back in school though. He enjoys his time with Mommy alone!